Chinese censorship fans rumors on Jiang Zemin

Sina's Twitter-like microblog platform Weibo blocked
searches for "death," "river" and "301 Hospital" on Wednesday, according to The
Wall Street Journal website. The company was responding to what Reuters reported was the service's most-discussed topic yesterday--the
rumored demise of former President Jiang Zemin, whose surname, Jiang, means
"river," and who may or may not have suffered a heart attack that was being
treated at top leaders' hospital of choice in Beijing.

Jiang's supposed expiration was first whispered because he
failed to turn out for a 90th anniversary celebration of the
founding of the Chinese Communist Party on Friday. Baidu search engine requests
for his name jumped more than 4,000 percent this week, according to Reuters.
Then, Asia Television in Hong Kong interrupted programming to declare his death
on Wednesday night, a report it later withdrew because there was no official
confirmation, according to Reuters.

Instead came official denial via state
media today. Here it is in full:

For many of the rumor-mongers, this insubstantial and
defensive statement merely affirmed their suspicions. Censorship and denials do
not quell rumors in China's tightly-controlled media environment; they
corroborate them.

And the truth? Who knows for now. But if the 84-year old
former leader is safe at home, he'd better not log on to Sina in case of
unexplained chest pains. The phrase "myocardial infarction" is blocked.

Madeline Earp is senior researcher for CPJ’s Asia Program. She has studied Mandarin in China and Taiwan, and graduated with a master’s in East Asian studies from Harvard. Follow her on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.